God promised Abraham land as an inheritance for him and his descendants forever. In Genesis 13:14-15 He told Abraham to look north, south, east, and west, for all the land he saw would be given to him and his seed forever. Genesis 15:18-21 marks out the territory from the Nile in Egypt to the Euphrates in Mesopotamia. Genesis 17:7-8 joins the possession of land to an everlasting covenant in which God promises to be God to Abraham and his descendants. Land and covenant belong together, so those descendants will ultimately possess the land as a people worshipping the true God. Eternity enters God's relationship with Abraham early, and the descendants are so precious to Him that Zechariah calls them the apple of God's eye. God restated the same promises to Isaac and Jacob, who lived by the same faith as heirs of the same promise. The apostle Paul interprets the land promise as reaching the entire world, so Israel's prophetic domain is the whole earth. The promised Seed, Christ, makes it possible for all peoples to have a relationship with the Father, so that God becomes their God according to the covenant promise. Because the patriarchs and others after them died without receiving the promise (Hebrews 11:39), its full realization is not confined to any one period of history.

A glorious inheritance awaits those who endure to the end, consisting of the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world. Jesus Christ prepares places in His Father's house so that the faithful may be received to Himself and share in His position. This inheritance is described as a heavenly country and a prepared city, identified as New Jerusalem, where the Father dwells and freely gives all things to His victorious children. It also encompasses eternal life and a hundredfold return for all that has been left behind for His name's sake. Only the faithful receive this inheritance, as flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God and corruption cannot inherit incorruption. Those who claim to know God yet fail to keep His commandments are excluded, along with the cowardly, unbelieving, and all who practice sin, who face the second death. The inheritance surpasses human imagination or perception, as no eye has seen nor ear heard the things God has prepared for those who love Him. God works continually to supply the spiritual provisions needed to attain this future, making it possible for the faithful to pursue holiness and character like that of Jesus Christ. Believers must therefore work out their own salvation with diligence, remain steadfast in the work of the Lord, and fulfill what He requires through obedience, justice, mercy, and humble service, knowing that their labor is not in vain.

The reward of the saved is not heaven but an inheritance on earth, rooted in the promises God made to Abraham and his Seed, who is Christ. God promised Abraham both a material inheritance, the land of Canaan and many nations, and a more important spiritual blessing for all nations through his Seed. Paul extends that promise to the inheritance of the whole world (Romans 4:13), with Israel's possession of Canaan serving as a type of the spiritual descendants inheriting the earth. Those who are Christ's, through faith and righteousness like Abraham's, are counted his spiritual descendants regardless of race or sex, and so become heirs of the same promises (Galatians 3:26-29). Jesus echoes David in saying the meek shall inherit the earth, not some place in the heavens. "Kingdom of heaven" means heaven's kingdom, the government Christ brings from heaven and sets up on earth at His return. As co-heirs with Him, resurrected Christians will reign as kings and priests on the earth, teaching and enforcing God's laws to build a world of peace and prosperity during the thousand-year reign. The ultimate inheritance goes further still: as members of the God Family, they will rule over the entire universe throughout eternity, a reward far beyond floating on clouds.